Ruth as a Symbol for Fatalism

The Oxford Dictionary defines fatalism as "the belief that all events are predetermined and therefore inevitable." Ishiguro presents this concept of fatalism through Ruth, whose presence in the story acts as a representation of fatalism itself. When Ruth talks about her dreams with Kathy, she says, "I was
looking out of the window and everything outside was flooded... But there wasn't any sense of panic or anything like that. It was nice and tranquil" (225). The tenses of her description--was looking, rather than looked--suggests that the flooding in her dream is already in progress by the time she looks out, and thus makes her helpless to stop it. Her phrasing of her dream, along with her location within a building looking out, implies the inevitability of her surrounding events. The sense of fatalism kicks in further when she mentions her feelings of tranquility and peace even when seeing such danger, since she understands that her helplessness in regards to her ability to stop what has already begun. Her reaction to the flooding represents the fatalism within the larger story, if one sees the flooding as a metaphor for their fates as donors. As clones, their status and futures have already been decided, and as such they can only feel tranquility at best or resignation at worst to an inevitable fate, as Ruth feels in her own disastrous dream.

Ruth additionally emphasizes the experience of fatalism after she finds her false possible: "How could I have tried [to find my possible]?... It's just something I once dreamt about. That's all"  (230). Her statement of "that's all" after acknowledging the futility of finding her possible as a "dream" implies her awareness of the extent of the power in her dreams. She understands that while dreams may come true, they don't come true for her specifically--seen in the emphasis of "something I once dreamt about"--and she accepts her powerlessness. Additionally, Ishiguro presents both of Ruth's most fatalistic experiences through the concept of dreams. By using the recurring metaphor of dreams, Ishiguro transforms fatalism from a sense of inescapable fate to something similar to a dream, an experience that can only be watched and ended abruptly by waking up. Rather than presenting fatalism as an experience of resignation, Ishiguro implies fatalism as more of a neutral experience, where submitting to one's fate doesn't imply their powerlessness or courage, but rather just an acceptance of the inevitable.